Kevin Durant shoots down Warriors’ ‘super team’ label

Updated 7:24 pm, Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Count Kevin Durant among those who don’t subscribe to the notion that the Warriors are a “super team.”

At the root of his argument is how Golden State was put together. Unlike other loaded teams that are built through trades and free agency, the Warriors became the class of the NBA largely through the draft. Many of Golden State’s players have vastly exceeded their draft-day projections.

“First of all, if everybody wanted Steph, he would have been the No. 1 pick,” Durant said Wednesday of Curry, the No. 7 pick of the 2009 NBA draft. “A lot of people passed on him. A lot of people doubted Steph, saying he wasn’t going to be this good. Klay Thompson, he was just supposed to be this OK shooter in the league, like that’s what you thought of Klay Thompson when he came in. Draymond, nobody wanted him. He was a 6-5 power forward. (They said) he couldn’t play in the league, he couldn’t start in the NBA. Shaun Livingston had a crazy knee injury.

“Nobody wanted him. Nobody thought that that he would get back to being Shaun Livingston. Andre Iguodala, he got traded a couple of times. Nobody wanted him. A lot of people didn’t expect these guys to be where they are today. Super team? No, we just work extremely well together.”

Durant’s comments came two days after LeBron James took issue with the super-team label. Though he played with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami before teaming up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in Cleveland, the 13-time All-Star reckons he has never played for a “super team.”

“I don’t believe in that,” James said after the Cavaliers’ Game 5 loss to Golden State.

Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

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Golden State Warriors' Kevin Durant during media availability at the Warriors' practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Kevin Durant during media availability at the Warriors' practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

Kevin Durant shoots down Warriors’ ‘super team’ label

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Regardless of how James or Durant view the topic, the Warriors aren’t likely to shed their super-team moniker. They boast arguably four of the league’s top 20 players, including two of the top three. They own a combined 207-39 regular-season record under head coach Steve Kerr and have won two NBA titles in three years.

“We make each other better and it’s not about who gets the credit,” Durant said. “It’s like, really just about having fun playing ball and let’s see how we can win together and that alone just helps the ego. So, sorry I went on a little rant, but that’s how I feel about the team.”